Page 131 - Trilateral Korea Japan U.S. Cooperation

Beginning in 1958, Kim Il-Sung began a campaign to have
Koreans living in Japan immigrate to North Korea. He widely
advertised North Korea as a “paradise on earth” and used the
Japanese organization under his influence, the Federation of
Korean Industries, to gather people who wanted to return to
North Korea. He demanded that the Japanese government
establish a system for their immigration to North Korea.
As a result, the Japanese government promoted the Korean
Peninsula as a place to live. It promoted the return of Koreans
living in Japan to North Korea. As part of this effort, the
Japanese Red Cross Society and the North Korean Red Cross
Society signed an agreement on return operations, which
began in December 1959, to emigrate those who wished to
live in North Korea. This program continued until July 1984.
From the 600,000 or so Koreans living in Japan, roughly
93,000 emigrated to North Korea, which they believed was
“paradise on earth.” As a result, most Korean families living in
Japan had relatives in North Korea.

In truth, their loved ones were taken hostage by the North
Korean government. The 93,000 people who emigrated to
North Korea as a result of this project were plunged into a life
without living supplies or human rights, and those who tried
to improve their lives or escape from North Korea became
victims of enforced disappearance.

In a court case brought against the North Korean government
by those who fled North Korea and returned to Japan, the
Tokyo High Court ruled in a written decision as follows:

“The Government of North Korea, in the course of its Return

130 Section II : Human Rights, Abductees, Forced Repatriation of Refugees and the Regional Implications